The Drowsy Chaperone went from a stag party gift to a Broadway hit – and saw its most recent incarnation at Athabasca’s Nancy Appleby Theatre.
Local actors and actresses put on a gut-busting performance of the play-within-a-play June 3, to the roars of a lively audience.
Tony Kiselyk played the crotchety Man In Chair, who draws the audience into his favourite musical about a 1920s starlet who trades fame for fiancé.
John Ollerenshaw went to the June 3 performance.
“It’s a good play when the actors are having so much fun. They were really having fun,” he said.
Ollerenshaw added that he wishes it had been a full house that night.
Director Gina Martel said she chose the play for its comedic value.
Through the performance the audience met gangsters who rattled off pastry puns (“One cannoli hope we have made ourselves perfectly éclair”) and clapped after Susan Galloway, playing the tottering Chaperone herself, performed a rousing anthem about alcoholism.
Knowing her audience, Martel slipped a joke about one actor’s real-life career into the script. She also cut an intentionally racist scene in which the cast enters the stage sporting mock-Chinese clothing and accents.
“If this was in a different city or town that might have gone over a little differently,” Martel explained. “I don’t want anybody else to leave a performance feeling they’ve been insulted.”
The play was put on by the Big River Arts Society and drew on the talents of 40 locals. It featured a live pit band, which some in the audience assumed was a recording because of its beautiful performance.
Kiselyk says that plays like this are an important addition to Athabasca’s culture.
“It provides a little art outlet for the community. Rather than having to go to Edmonton for their entertainment, they can just stay right here.”
The Drowsy Chaperone’s script was first penned in 1997 by Canadian writer Don McKellan and several friends as present for Bob Martin’s bachelor party. Later, McKellan and Martin further developed the play, along with Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison who wrote its music and lyrics. The play won five Tony awards and has been translated into several languages.
The cast will perform again at the Nancy Appleby Theatre June 8-10.
